Backgrounds
by Atarah Derek
Summary: Just some musing about the backgrounds of the younger characters.


**Backgrounds: Snapshots of the kids' lives before they entered third grade**

_AN: Just some musing I did one day a couple years back. I decided to post it as a one-shot, stand alone series of snippets. You can take this as a series of prompts and expand on each idea if you want._

**Carlos Ramon**

Carlos was only a year and a half old when his brother was born six weeks premature. He didn't understand why little Miguel had to be kept in that special plastic box behind the window. Nor did he understand the big, scary words the doctors kept using, like, "surgery" and "spina bifida." His daddy had tried to explain that the baby had a hole in his back, but Carlos couldn't see it and thus wasn't convinced. "Don't worry, Carlos," his daddy had said. "Your baby brother's a fighter. He and mommy will be coming home very soon." And while baby Mikey did indeed come home a couple weeks later, Carlos would later learn that Mikey would never walk. After seeing some people in town in wheelchairs, Carlos was determined to make sure his brother would be able to get around just as easily. So at the age of three, he decided he wanted to put wheels on his own kitchen booster seat so that Mikey could get around. Two plastic wheels and a bottle of glue spilled on the linoleum later, Carlos received a gentle scolding from his parents for his unauthorized and fruitless ambition, but anyone could see that they were both touched by and proud of Carlos' ingenuity. Later that day Carlos went with his dad to pick out Mikey's very first wheelchair, which would be a present for Mikey's second birthday. Over the years the boy geniuses worked together to modify Mikey's chair, forging an unbreakable bond rarely seen even between brothers.

**Keesha Franklin**

At three years old, Keesha was an orphan. The car accident had been bad, and when she woke up in the hospital, the only person who came to see her was her grandmother. Grandma explained that Keesha would be living with her from now on. It took a long time for the fact that her parents were not coming back to sink in. Keesha spent many nights tossing and turning, angry at her parents for abandoning her. Eventually she would begin to understand that they had no choice, and she would adjust to life with her grandmother.

**Ralphie Tennelli**

Five-year-old Ralphie will never forget the day he came downstairs for breakfast one morning, only to discover his exasperated mother sitting at the table with her head in her hands, trying not to cry. Ralphie heard the door open and saw his dad picking up a suitcase. Ralphie knew about the fights his parents had been having, and had even heard his father threaten to leave. Now he was making good on his threat. Ralphie ran after his father, begging him to stay. But his dad only glanced sadly back over his shoulder before getting into his car and driving away. It would be two months before Ralphie heard from him again. Soon, Ralphie found himself spending every other weekend in a city more than two hours' drive from Walkerville.

**Wanda Li**

Things could not be anymore awkward for eight-year-old Wanda Li. Her mother had been through two nasty divorces. Wanda had never met the sleaze who was her mother's first husband. Until now. Apparently, this dude had done a lot of growing up since he and Sandra had separated. They had married young, because she was pregnant, and definitely not ready to be a mother. Their marriage had lasted all of thirteen months. And when Greg left, Sandra let him take their son with him. Now he was back, and he had rekindled his relationship with Wanda and William's mother. Wanda was none too happy about it. At least, not until she got to know her half-brother, Henry. The summer before third grade was spent mostly with the Chens, a large, loving family that had been in America for less than three generations. As Wanda became more familiar with Greg and Henry, she warmed up to them. Over the next couple of years, Greg and Sandra would hold an on-and-off relationship before going steady and finally deciding to retry the whole marriage thing. And for once, Wanda could actually say she was excited about it.

**Phoebe Therese**

Phoebe was always the quietest member of her class. Even her second-grade teacher had a hard time drawing her out of her shell. But she was silently passionate, and when someone challenged one of her passions, she suddenly became bold and outspoken. One such case was when the school had to make budget cuts, which meant little things, like new labels for bathrooms and other rooms, would have to be put aside. Phoebe was not pleased to hear this, as those new labels were supposed to be in Braille. It was rare that Phoebe spoke out for anything that was not animal related. But this had become one of her passions for the simple reason that her father was blind, and needed the Braille labels to help find his way around her school. So with the help of Mr. Seedplot, Phoebe began a campaign to have the Braille labels included in the school budget. It worked, and Phoebe even had the opportunity to help place the labels. She even showed her class how to read a few words and letters by running their fingers over the raised bumps. Her parents and teachers were extremely proud of her.

**Tim**

Tim was always the type of child who liked to keep to himself. He had an active imagination, but he never played it out. While other kids ran around the playground, Tim would always be off by himself with a stick in a patch of dirt, or sidewalk chalk, or even berries and a piece of slate. When he could smuggle actual pencil and paper outside, he would. His imagination manifest itself in his drawings. From the time he was in kindergarten, Tim prided himself on being able to produce the class masterpieces in whatever medium they used. His kindergarten teacher had told the class specifically that there would be no mixing of colors during finger-painting. Tim blatantly ignored her, creating any colors he needed that were not provided. And his pictures were always the best as a result. His constant drawing made him one of Walkerville Elementary's best artists by the time he was eight. He was also a storyteller who loved comics. By the time he reached third grade, Tim knew what he wanted to do with his life. He would become a graphic novelist. He put his artistic skills to use whenever he got the chance, and in spite of the constant activity in Ms. Frizzle's class, Tim almost always found a chance to pull out his sketch pad and depict his class' adventures.

**Arnold Pearlstein**

In second grade they declared him a prodigy, a genius. Arnold simply shrugged it off, saying, "I just love rocks." But to the prestigious GRANITE, there was more to the budding young geologist than the simple fact that he loved rocks. He could categorize and identify many different types of rock better than many of the society's long-time members. So shortly before his eighth birthday, Arnold found himself being welcomed as GRANITE's newest and youngest member—a full five years younger than the previous record holder for the minimum age. Given his age, GRANITE waived Arnold's membership fees until he turned 14, the minimum age at which federal laws allowed him to hold a job. During his time with GRANITE Arnold would receive many awards. The fact that he was in so prestigious a society at such a young age made his cousin Janet insanely jealous. Janet was an overachiever, and though they were as close as brother and sister, Janet felt it was her job to show Arnold up in everything. And thus has she maintained her idea of a rivalry between them.

**Dorothy Ann **

DA had always loved books. At three years old she had discovered reading. She was a learner, absorbing information from anything that had pages. Visitors to her house thought it was cute that she was "imitating" her parents by reading the newspaper. They were stunned when she would excitedly explain the events about which she had just read. She made a point of researching for herself every claim someone made to her. She refused to believe it unless she read it in a book. When some boys in her first grade class—Carlos among them—attempted to taunt her with a big, slimy frog, DA simply retorted that according to her research, frogs were not covered with slime. They secreted mucus, which was different. This frustrated the boys, and instilled in Carlos a determination to irritate the pretty blond bookworm in any way he could, which he continues to do to this day.


End file.
